{"id":21948,"date":"2022-04-23T10:23:44","date_gmt":"2022-04-23T14:23:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=21948"},"modified":"2022-04-23T10:23:44","modified_gmt":"2022-04-23T14:23:44","slug":"juan-orlando-hernandez-honduran-ex-leader-extradited-to-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2022\/04\/23\/juan-orlando-hernandez-honduran-ex-leader-extradited-to-usa\/","title":{"rendered":"Juan Orlando Hern\u00e1ndez: Honduran ex-leader extradited to USA"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\"><b class=\"ssrcss-hmf8ql-BoldText e5tfeyi3\">A former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hern\u00e1ndez, has been extradited to the United States to face charges of drug trafficking and money laundering.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Mr Hern\u00e1ndez, who governed the Central American nation until January, was put on board a US Drug Enforcement Administration plane for New York.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">He was arrested at his home just weeks after his second term in office ended.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">The ex-leader has denied wrongdoing, arguing that disgruntled drug traffickers are trying to frame him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Mr Hern\u00e1ndez is facing charges of:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"unordered-list-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-1o5f7ft-BulletListContainer e5tfeyi0\">\n<ul role=\"list\">\n<li>conspiracy to import a controlled substance into the US<\/li>\n<li>using or carrying firearms including machine guns<\/li>\n<li>conspiracy to use or carry firearms<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">In a video posted on his wife&#8217;s Twitter account, he denied the allegations, saying: &#8220;I am innocent. I have been subjected to an unfair trial.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\"><a class=\"ssrcss-1gfaiii-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/juan-orlando-hern%C3%A1ndez-former-president-honduras-indicted-drug-trafficking\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">In a statement<\/a>, the US Department of Justice said Mr Hern\u00e1ndez would make his first appearance before a New York court on Friday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">US Attorney Damian Williams said the former president had &#8220;partnered with some of the world&#8217;s most prolific narcotics traffickers to build a corrupt and brutally violent empire based on the illegal trafficking of tons of cocaine&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">The head of the Drugs Enforcement Administration (DEA), Anne Milgram, called Mr Hern\u00e1ndez &#8220;a central figure in one of the largest and most violent cocaine trafficking conspiracies in the world&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">The 53-year-old&#8217;s legal troubles were triggered by the trial against his younger brother\u00a0<a class=\"ssrcss-1gfaiii-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-latin-america-56589088\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tony, a former member of the Honduran Congress, who was sentenced to life in prison last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">During Tony Hern\u00e1ndez&#8217;s trial in New York, prosecutors alleged that the infamous Mexican drug lord Joaqu\u00edn &#8220;El Chapo&#8221; Guzm\u00e1n had personally handed the younger Hern\u00e1ndez $1m (\u00a3765,000).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">According to the prosecutors,\u00a0<a class=\"ssrcss-1gfaiii-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-latin-america-49915690\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&#8220;El Chapo&#8221; told Tony Hern\u00e1ndez to pass the money on to his older brother, Juan Orlando, to finance the latter&#8217;s presidential campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Juan Orlando Hern\u00e1ndez is accused of having accepted millions of dollars in bribes during his eight years as president in exchange for protecting drug traffickers from investigation, arrest and extradition.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">In its extradition request, the US outlined some of the allegations in more detail, accusing the former president of &#8220;participating in a violent drug trafficking conspiracy to receive shipments of multiple tonnes of cocaine sent to Honduras from Colombia and Venezuela and other locations by air or sea routes&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">The request alleges that the drugs &#8211; amounting to a total of 500 tonnes since 2004 &#8211; were then transported to the Guatemala border and from there to the US.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">Mr Hern\u00e1ndez has denied the allegations, arguing that he fought drug traffickers with all the means at his disposal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">The former president &#8211; who was elected to the office in 2014 &#8211; says that the evidence against him was fabricated by drug traffickers out for revenge after his government extradited them to the US.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i86\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00\">He has been in police custody since his arrest on 15 February.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-latin-america-61174692\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\">A former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hern\u00e1ndez, has been extradited to the United States to face charges of drug trafficking and money laundering. Mr Hern\u00e1ndez, who governed the Central American nation until January, was <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2022\/04\/23\/juan-orlando-hernandez-honduran-ex-leader-extradited-to-usa\/\" title=\"Juan Orlando Hern\u00e1ndez: Honduran ex-leader extradited to USA\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21949,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,6],"tags":[2885,5967,2707,3472,7154,1484,4974,4954],"class_list":{"0":"post-21948","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-usa","9":"category-world","10":"tag-drug-trafficking","11":"tag-drugs-trade","12":"tag-extradition","13":"tag-honduras","14":"tag-juan-orlando-hernandez","15":"tag-money-laundering","16":"tag-us-department-of-justice","17":"tag-us-drug-enforcement-agency","18":"pmpro-has-access"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21948"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21951,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21948\/revisions\/21951"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}